1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to footwear in general, and in particular, to a closure system for footwear that can be quickly operated by the wearer using one hand to tighten the footwear on the wearer's foot, or conversely, loosen it for removal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional blucher-type shoe or boot typically incorporates a closure comprising a flexible upper having an enlongated slot or opening over the wearer's instep and a pair of separate, opposing flaps along either side of the opening. The flaps contain a plurality of lace eyelets in opposed relation to one another across the opening, and typically overlay a tongue, attached to the upper at the vamp, that directly contacts the instep of the wearer's foot. A single lace is continuously threaded in criss-cross fashion between diagonal eyelets, from the bottom of the instep to the top, with the two lace ends extending loosely outward from a pair of eyelets at or near the top of the instep. The closure is tightened over the wearer's foot by pulling both lace ends forcefully and simultaneously further outwardly from the eyelets, thereby causing the flaps to be drawn toward one another across the wearer's instep, and is secured in the tightened condition by tying a bow knot in the lace ends.
This type of footwear closure is very old, and although inexpensive to make and simple to operate, has a number of problems associated with it. One of these is that it can be relatively slow to effect, as described below, and requires the use of both hands to tighten the closure, a disadvantage for persons having the use of only one hand. Another is that the bow knot used to secure the closure can be difficult for young children to tie, and is often unreliable after tying, leading to a loosened condition of the shoe, and requiring that the closure be re-tightened and re-knotted after only a short wear period. Finally, the laces, tongue and instep opening of the closure are all open and exposed to the entry of din, which can adversely affect its operation.
Another problem relates to the degree of frictional engagement between the lace and the eyelets. If high, the shoe is hard to lace up, and if low, exacerbates the tendency of the closure to loosen should the knot begin to loosen. And, if this value is inconsistent from eyelet to eyelet, it can result in a non-uniform tension on the foot at different points along the instep. This latter problem can be overcome to a certain extent by a "hitching-up" proceedure in which both sides of the lace are grasped simultaneously between the thumb and forefinger of both hands at various points along the instep and, proceeding from bottom of the instep to the top, pulling out on both sides of the lace simultaneously to tighten the closure at localized regions along the instep, the slack in the lace generated thereby being passed up to the next point of localized tension adjustment, and so on, until the lace ends at the top of the closure are reached. This procedure is slow, tedious, and necessitates the use of both hands.
Over the years, a number of closure systems have been devised in an attempt to overcome some or all of these problems. One of these, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,342 to T. Derderian, et al., intersperses eyelet pairs having a relatively high degree of frictional engagement of the lace between pairs of "free-running" eyelets, i.e., eyelets having a low frictional engagement with the lace, to afford the wearer means for achieving an adjustable instep width and tension that can be individually adjusted in various regions along the instep. Although this system offers some advantages over a conventional closure in terms of instep width and tension adjustment, it still incorporates the unreliable bow-knot feature, requires the use of both hands, and is open to the entry of dirt.
Another such closure system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,454,335 to H. Nichols. In some of Nichols' closure embodiments, the tongue of the shoe is not attached to the upper, but rather, is free to slide up and down along the midline of the upper relative to the wearer's instep. Two ends of a lace are joined to form a continuous loop, and the lace is threaded through all of the eyelets in the flap and, in one embodiment, through a plurality of eyelets in the tongue, such that the portions of the lace extending between the flap and the tongue eyelets are in a straight, horizontal configuration when the flaps are at their maximum distance apart. When the tongue is pulled downwardly along the instep toward the toe of the shoe, the portions of the lace lying between the flap eyelets and the tongue eyelets are pulled from the straight, horizontal configuration, to an inverted-Vee configuration, thereby pulling the flaps together to tighten the upper. A snap fastener on the tongue bottom mates with a fastener on the vamp of the upper to hold the closure in the tightened condition. While this system addresses some of the problems described above, such as the need for two-handed operation, it is inapplicable to footwear having a tongue fixed to the upper, such as athletic footwear having a so-called "sock-tongue" construction, as well as to other types of footwear having a relatively high lace-loading over the instep, because of its necessity for a moving tongue, and the attendant high degree of sliding friction between it and the wearer's foot, the laces themselves, and the underside of the flaps.
Another closure system is described in a trio of patents to C. Berger, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,117,567; 5,117,882; and, 5,181,331. In Berger's system, a rigid, plastic "instep shield" is disposed over the instep opening and attached to either the tongue, or the upper at the vamp. Each flap of the shoe has one of two plastic "instep flaps" attached to it in opposed relation to a respective side of the shield such that instep flaps form a vee-shaped opening on either side of the shield. The instep flaps may be attached to the sole by straps that extends down the sides of the shoe. A single cable, which may be a "Bowden" cable, has its two ends joined together to form a continuous loop that is threaded through a series of low-friction grooves or guide blocks molded in the shield and the instep flaps such that, by pulling the upper end of the loop, the two instep flaps are pulled toward the instep shield with a uniform force, tightening the closure. The top of the cable loop is wound onto a cable spool, or reel, at the top end of the instep shield such that, when the spool is turned, the loop of cable is wound onto it, thereby effecting tightening of the closure. An optional instep shield cover can be provided over the whole instep region to protect the closure and to keep out dirt. While this form of closure addresses most of the problems of the conventional lace closure described above, it also appears to be somewhat expensive to fabricate and complicated to assemble.
Other examples of footwear speed closures may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,482 to S. Torrpey, U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,761 to D. Mahood, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,916 to T. Salisbury.
The subject of this invention, a speed closure for footwear, overcomes the problems of conventional lace closures described above, yet avoids the disadvantages of the above-described prior art closures. It is quick, reliable, can be operated with one hand, provides a uniform tension over the instep of the wearer's foot, yet accomodates some foot width variations, has means for protecting the closure against din, and is relatively inexpensive to make and easy to assemble to the footwear.